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Old 02-16-2015, 02:08 AM   #1
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Cell Phone Activity and Texting

So as we are driving around the good old USA a common thing that we see is the vehicle in front of us is wavering from side to side, driving on the shoulder throwing up stones and debris. So what's going on? Well we all know what is going on. My state Indiana exempted vehicles of a certain weight from the texting laws. So heavy trucks and motor homes can text their hearts out.

The problem lies in the fact that texting is worse than impaired driving. During our recent renovation of I 65 many people have been killed by rear end collisions. The signage was minimalist. A road construction sign 60 miles prior to the backup over the hill was not helpful. I believe that the signage specs were lessened in recent times. The carnage became so bad in Indiana that they assigned state police cars with flashers going to areas before construction where traffic might be backed up.

Whether these State Troopers where on the states budget is unknown by me. Whose fault the collisions are will remain to be seen. I suspect Indiana as we have traveled much of the US and never seen surprises like on the I65 renovation of 2014. My opinion is extremely bad signage. One sign at the beginning of a 200+ mile job is not enough.

So back to the original topic was it cell phone inattentiveness to driving or bad signage? Many people seem to be driving by a hope and a prayer other than attentiveness to what is happening before their eye's.
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Old 02-16-2015, 03:48 AM   #2
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Cell phones should be "disabled" when a vehicle is put in gear...........and does not work till that vehicle stops moving. Even when blue-toothed, people are distracted!
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Old 02-16-2015, 04:27 AM   #3
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As an Amateur radio operator I have operated 2-way radios in the car for the better part of half a century. Do they distract? Well, I have been known to miss an exit when using the radio, but there is no danger (Save running out of gas) if you miss an exit.

But the Telephone... Is very very different. I find my attitude, my posture and such are both different using the phone, and my ability to operate the vehicle,, (This is talking) is much more affected.. I try to use the cell phone in motion only for "Talk in" directions (always low speed, looking for my destination).

Anything more and I find parking.. I also find parking for texting.
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Old 02-16-2015, 07:00 AM   #4
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I like John have over a century using radio's while operating vehicles a lot in which any error might be fatal.
The use of phones for most is a huge distraction as they are more involved in the phone than things around them.
I still do not use a cell phone while driving.
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Old 02-16-2015, 10:09 AM   #5
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X2. Just observe the number of wrecks that occur when both vehicles are going in the same direction. Note, I said wreck, not accident. Lots of these occurrences are not accidental, rather the direct result of people not paying attention.

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....The use of phones for most is a huge distraction as they are more involved in the phone than things around them. I still do not use a cell phone while driving.
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Old 02-16-2015, 10:20 AM   #6
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It's against the law (in my neck of the woods) to use a phone while driving unless you have a hand free device (bluetooth). Texting is way out of bounds with sizable fines. This is in part because distracted driving has taken the place as the number 1 cause of traffic fatalities (replacing impaired driving).
Let's face it, most accidents are the result of operator error, the problem has merely been compounded by the fact that we have become obsessed with our electronic gadgets. I don't know how people are willing to risk their own lives and lives of others because they want to check their facebook page on the way to work. It is criminal both literally and figuratively. I can imagine how I might feel if I lost a member of my family to such a thing. Driving is a privilege, not a right and if drivers are going to abuse it, they should lose it.
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Old 02-16-2015, 10:31 AM   #7
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I've tried and tried to get my wife to text, play games, call etc on her cell phone while driving down the road. But as they say "no joy". Instead she keeps on grabbing the arm rest and slamming her foot on the imaginary brake peddle on the passenger side. You see she does all of the driving, I just turn the steering wheel and press on the acceleration and brake peddles as directed. "Did you see that guy, he almost swerved all the way over across that line and hit us!" Honey, he missed crossing the line by a good 2 feet and he is a half mile ahead of us". "Just the same he is driving like a crazy person". "Yes dear" Talk about a distraction while I am driving!!!

Me....no way, I'm just not going to text or call on the phone while I am driving.
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Old 02-16-2015, 10:44 AM   #8
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In this state they are in the process of making any hands on operation of a cell phone or similar device a moving violation and will appear on your driving record for your insurance co. to see and jacking up the fines a lot.
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Old 02-16-2015, 11:06 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirpurrcival View Post
It's against the law (in my neck of the woods) to use a phone while driving unless you have a hand free device (bluetooth). Texting is way out of bounds with sizable fines. This is in part because distracted driving has taken the place as the number 1 cause of traffic fatalities (replacing impaired driving).
Let's face it, most accidents are the result of operator error, the problem has merely been compounded by the fact that we have become obsessed with our electronic gadgets. I don't know how people are willing to risk their own lives and lives of others because they want to check their facebook page on the way to work. It is criminal both literally and figuratively. I can imagine how I might feel if I lost a member of my family to such a thing. Driving is a privilege, not a right and if drivers are going to abuse it, they should lose it.
X2...having retired from a 31 year career in Law Enforcement(two of those years overseeing our traffic bureau) the cell phone has well exceeded DUI as the cause of serious/fatal collisions. One of the reasons is just about everyone has a cell phone, including the most inexperienced young drivers, where everyone does not drink. The laws have not kept up with the advances in technology, as talking/texting on a cell phone is still somewhat acceptable where DUI is still looked down on as socially unacceptable(as it should be).

There are several remedies available, one already mentioned where the phone is disabled while the vehicle is moving. They already have that technology feature in alot of the factory installed navigation systems. There needs to be more pressure put on the cell phone manufacturers to incorporate this technology in cell phones, and if somebody finds a way to override it, then the citation could become a misdemeanor rather than an infraction.Unfortunately this will not change until someone important is affected and something like MADD comes out of it.

Although it was a tragic accident, years ago we had a single car collision into a tree, found the driver (male in his late teens early twenties), with his cell phone lodged in his throat. Nobody felt bad for the guy as everyone was happy he didn't hurt or kill anyone else. Then the parents had the gall to ask us(PD), not in a constructive way, why we weren't doing more to stop this type of driving and we could have prevented this from happening, therein lays the root of the problem, a lot of people don't want to take responsibility for their actions, and those "laws" are for "Everyone" else but them. Sorry for the long response but this too is one of my pet peeves.
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Old 02-16-2015, 11:18 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by palehorse89 View Post
Cell phones should be "disabled" when a vehicle is put in gear...........and does not work till that vehicle stops moving. Even when blue-toothed, people are distracted!
This may come off as harsh in text form, but I'm a direct, plain spoken kinda guy. It's not directed at any one person.

You can say the same things about distraction when it comes to GPS or a cup of coffee. Eating, makeup, talking to the passenger (worse then talking on the phone since we tend to LOOK AT the folks we are talking to removing eyes from the road). The list can go on for days. Some folks just can't chew gum and walk at the same time.

I'm certainly not advocating texting while driving. I'm against drivers doing that. I've actually seen folks reading books, newspapers, reports etc while driving (my brain screams "please open that window so I can blast you with my paintball gun" when I see that).

If a person can't drive and talk at the same time then they shouldn't be driving because they don't have the focus to do so. To drive you must be aware of many things all at the same time and be ready for the curve ball someone else throws at you. If speaking/listening is just too much then let someone else drive, I don't want to share the road with people like that.

For that matter, the lack of real driver training before we issue a license has resulted in some seriously bad drivers sharing the road with us.

The subject of banning all phone use while driving burns me. "I can't/won't do it so you are not allowed to do it" mentality. We already have distracted driving laws, how about we just apply them?

Next up we will ban radios and passengers.
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Old 02-16-2015, 11:25 AM   #11
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I also would like to see the marketing of cars that cant ,slide ,get the little monsters to what ever practice faster, and don't glide thru the night like there on rails,and are sound proofed so good you can listen to your own music and not the other guys, everybody today thinks there a stunt driver , or in the movies, sorry for the rant
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Old 02-16-2015, 07:24 PM   #12
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When i drive, the only thing the cell phone is used for is the map-gps feature. Its mounted on the dash with a holder and if it rings hit the no button. I have the hands off feature on the stereo but don't use it. Texting???? are you Nuts!!!! There is no laws yet for Arizona but wish there was!!! If Deb wants,..she has the job of phone calls. i don't even talk on the O'le CB. Getting to old for the distractions. Keep them safe, Smoke
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Old 02-16-2015, 07:43 PM   #13
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Distracted driving is distracted driving. A read recently of someone being pulled over for eating while driving. If we ban cellphones are we to ban drinking hot coffee while driving? Ever drop one in your lap? Maybe we should ban all drive throughs. Programming a Garmin while driving is a distraction, changing radio stations is a distraction, putting on lipstick, reading the paper, reading a book are all distractions. Ever turn your head just for a moment to take care of kids arguing in the back? There have been distracted drivers causing accidents long before cell phones were invented. Sure texting is a no no. Using a hands free setup to make and receive calls not so much. It's quite easy to go to far.
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Old 02-16-2015, 07:55 PM   #14
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Texting is right on par with an extreme DUI in my opinion. Should be an automatic license revocation.
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